The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
For some athletes, injuries can create massive setbacks and harder comebacks. Some injuries can even end lifelong careers.
But for Sierra Sythe, injuries made her stronger, sharper and better than before. After suffering an ACL tear during her freshman year at Wake Forest University, the Millikan alum just wrapped up an impressive 2025 campaign on the pitch.
“Not only did I get to go to the National Championship last year, which was insane, but also to get called in individually to a National Team camp just felt so good,” Sythe said. “I’ve gotten myself onto the right path, and everything I did in the past year with PT and training and trying to get back to where I was paid off.”
The Road to Recovery
For Sythe, as for many players, coming back from an ACL tear was not easy. After working hard over the summer to earn a starting spot during her first year as a Deac, Sythe suffered the brutal injury 20 minutes into an exhibition game.
Not only was she set up to fight physical battles as she recovered, but the mental obstacles Sythe was facing were a challenge on their own.
“I was like, ‘Why did this happen to me? Why did I have to go through this?’” Sythe said. “I remember thinking after my surgery, when I couldn’t even walk for two months, ‘Am I ever going to get back to where I was?’”
Sythe credits her successful recovery journey to her team at Wake Forest. From physical therapy to her strength coach, everyone in her corner helped her get back on the pitch.
“Once I hit that time where I was able to start running again and start practicing and playing, I felt like that passion really started to come back,” Sythe said.
Sythe’s parents, Maribeth and Andy, said while Sierra’s injury was gut-wrenching to watch, they knew their daughter was going to come back stronger than before. Sierra always had an appreciation for the game and being forced to watch from the sidelines only deepened this connection.
“She had that new hunger to get out there and play, take advantage of her health and all of that,” Maribeth said. “I was very proud of her. That’s not an easy journey for anyone, and it paid off.”
Coming back from her injury, Sythe started 18 matches and played in all 24 games of the 2024 fall season. During this first full season as a Deacon, Sythe transitioned from winger to right back, where she helped Wake Forest to one of the best defensive records in the ACC and the nation.
In the 2025 season, the redshirt sophomore started all 20 games she played in, totaling up 1,746 minutes and playing all 90 minutes for 16 of the matches.
Halfway through her second full season as a Deac, Sythe’s eight assists were tied for 5th in the NCAA and 2nd in the ACC. Sythe finished the 2025 season at Wake Forest in the Top 50 for each ranking, being ranked the No. 10 assist leader in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the No. 40 player in the country on Top Drawer Soccer’s Top 100 Midseason Women’s National Rankings, the highest Deac on the list.
Wake Forest’s defensive strategy is to push outside backs high and wide, getting them involved in the offensive attack, which is what has helped Sythe rack up assists.
Sierra Sythe (top row, fifth from right) poses for a picture with the U.S. U-20 Youth National Team in Fayette, Ga. on June 1. Sythe was one of 24 players called into the camp from around the country.
Before she started her dominant fall in North Carolina, Sythe represented the United States on the U-20 Youth National Team (USYNT) throughout the summer. She joined a team alongside 23 of the top players from across the country in weeks of May and June.
“It’s a validation of my hard work as a soccer player, not even just my hard work, but everything that I put into the sport,” Sythe said.
The experience Sythe gained at National Team camp contributed to the success she had at Wake Forest this fall. Sythe said training with the best of the best for her age group, even with some teammates being her collegiate opponents, allowed her to grow immensely as a player.
“Being able to share that knowledge and implement some of the skills that I was able to learn at camp with other people on our team was something I really valued,” Sythe said. “When one person gets better, everyone else on the team gets better. Also, the fact I am capable of being called into the National Team camp – having confidence moving forward in myself and in my abilities positively impacts the season and my team at Wake.”
Tino Nuñez, Millikan Girls’ Soccer Head Coach, said it was hard to watch Sythe’s freshman season be taken from her, but her recovery and success after is a testament to the player and person she is.
“Talk about adversity; her having to go through that and then where she’s at now,” Nuñez said. “There’s a story behind it. She came back stronger and continued to work. You see the type of person she is and what this means to her; the passion and love she has for the sport.”
Back to Her Roots
Representing her country for the sport she loves isn’t an honor Sythe takes lightly. Her National Team experience goes back to the U-15 level when Sythe played on Beach FC, but her lifelong passion for soccer started when she was a kid.
“By the time I was able to walk and run, I was in sports,” Sythe said.
Sierra Sythe with her mother, Maribeth, during her youth years playing AYSO rec soccer. Maribeth was a collegiate athlete in her own right, supporting the journey her daughter is currently on.
She was driven by her parents, who were both collegiate athletes themselves. Maribeth played soccer at Dayton and Wright State while Andy played football at West Valley College and has been the Head Coach of LBSU Track and Field since 1989.
Having been present on the Long Beach sports scene, Andy and Sierra have both earned recognition through their sports. Andy is an 11-time Big West Track and Field Coach of the Year who has won 13 Big West titles; the most of any program in the history of the conference; and 10 MPSF titles, a conference-high record.
“They never took their foot off the gas pedal with helping me,” Sierra said of her parents. “From them to Tino, having them pushing me was obviously a huge help. As I went through my soccer career, I had a lot of different people who were willing to help me and who never gave up on me. I think that was just a really big part of getting me to where I am today.”
Despite their personal careers, the Sythes don’t necessarily credit their own athletic history to their daughter’s success.
“She was just a natural,” Maribeth said of Sierra. “I remember when she was probably eight, she just said, ‘Mommy, I was born to score goals,’ and there was no looking back.”
In a world where club sports are ever growing in popularity, Maribeth and Andy Sythe said Sierra’s introduction to the sport through AYSO Recreation soccer is what has propelled her to continue playing through the years. Starting soccer in a lighthearted environment where fun was the priority helped Sierra grow a passion for the sport.
“It’s important to just keep doing what you love, and everything evolved for Sierra from that,” Andy said. “I think AYSO served a great purpose in that.”
During her first year playing at Millikan, Sierra was named the 2022 Moore League Offensive Player of the Year and earned All-Moore League First Team and CIF Southern Section First Team honors. She wasn’t able to represent the Rams until her junior year when U.S. Soccer terminated the Development Academy (DA) – a club soccer program that had its athletes training at a high intensity year-round and not allowing them to compete at the high school level.
“I’m at this point where I’m really thankful to have been put in high pressure situations my whole life – in high school and club and then now in college,” Sythe said. “I’ve been able to really grow as a player and a person. Seeing where I started when I was four to now, I’ve come a long way.”
Sierra Sythe (right) battles for the ball against Los Alamitos in the 2022 CIF-SS Division I playoffs. This was Sythe’s first playoff appearance for Millikan, joining the Rams her junior yearafter U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy was terminated.
After earning individual accolades in 2022, Sythe led the Rams to a Moore League championship with a dominant 11-0-1 record in her senior year. Although Sythe had a late start in Millikan’s program, her impact on the team was immediately evident, Nuñez said.
“She’s just a leader on and off the field,” Nuñez said. “She’s somebody that has always wanted to do the extra and is always trying to get better. She led by example, and she got the girls to believe in what the program wanted to be about.”
When coming back from her injury, Sierra’s long-rooted passion for the game paired with her focus is what fueled her comeback. Andy Sythe, who has coached a fair share of extraordinary athletes and Olympians, said his daughter has always had an impressive level of self-motivation.
“She’s very disciplined, she’s always been that way from an early age,” Andy said. “Her injury, from a parent’s perspective 3,000 miles away, you have those fears that it might be a tougher recovery journey. It was not easy, it was always tough, but she managed it, pushed herself and got through it. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Andy said soccer means everything to Sierra, so he knew this setback wasn’t going to take his daughter down. Although her injury gave her a hard road of recovery, Sierra said she learned more than she could have imagined during the fight to get back on the field.
“If I hadn’t gotten injured, I wouldn’t have learned that I’m capable of more things than I can actually think of,” Sythe said.
Sierra Sythe plays Division I soccer at Wake Forest University. Sythe suffered a season-ending ACL injury as a freshman but has returned to the pitch better than before.
While Wake Forest has helped Sythe gain success in her new position as a defender, Sierra said she credits her on-field triumphs and successful recovery to her community, both in North Carolina and Long Beach.
“Being able to go basically my whole career surrounded by not only people in the soccer world who were always encouraging and wanted me to succeed, but also people outside of it was just so good for how I viewed myself as a player,” Sythe said. “I really am surrounded by a community that loves me, and it just felt so great, and I can’t thank all those people enough for how they’ve impacted my life.”
Nuñez said working with alumnas like Sythe is one of his greatest honors as a coach. As these players move on to the next level, their Ram roots run deep.
“As a program, we’re proud of her accomplishments. We’re her biggest fans,” Nuñez said on behalf of his staff. “She’s somebody we refer to when we talk about players that have come through our program, and she will continue to be an example of any Ram for years to come. Players come in and understand what the players who came before them have done, and I think that’s a motivation force to continue to do that.”
But for Sythe herself, the pride she carries goes beyond DeHaven Stadium. As she continues pushing through the rankings and leading Wake Forest as an upperclassman, Sythe said she will always remember her Long Beach community. Without the city behind her, she wouldn’t have been able to get to where she is today.
“I’ll forever be a Long Beach lover,” Sythe said. “I want to be that person and invest in the sports community and just the community as a whole because it’s really a lot of amazing people here. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything else.”
Basketball has been a big part of Brian Montanaro’s life for as long as he can remember.
Montanaro had his fair share of playing days in high school and college, but his transition to coaching came quicker than expected in the mid-2000s.
Fast forward to today, and he’s currently in his first season as head coach of the Baldwinsville boys basketball team.
“It’s been a great experience so far,” Montanaro said. “From a strategic side of things, when you graduate seven seniors like we did last year, that’s never an easy stepping stone into the following season and filling roles in the process. But we have a lot of good returning players who have stepped into the role and have been buying into everything we’ve been doing and sharing. They’ve been working their butts off, which is awesome. Our goal is to continually improve, one step at a time. And as long as you put forth that effort, whether it’s on the core, in the classroom or later in your professional life, that’s the attitude that’s going to make you succeed. It might not always show up immediately, but you keep up that consistency and the results will follow. That’s kind of the mindset we have.”
Before Montanaro entered the coaching world, he played at Bishop Ludden. A 2001 graduate, he was part of a 2000-01 Pat Connelly-Gaelic Knights squad that made a run to the New York State Class B semifinals.
“Having Coach Connelly as my coach was awesome,” Montanaro said. “He was a great coach and mentor. I had a very good three-year career there, and Coach Connelly was a big reason for it.”
Montanaro went to play for Daemen College (Daemen University), an NAIA Division II program that recently moved to NCAA Division II.
“I had different offers or (Division I) coaches that reached out to me, but a lot of them were like Ivy League and Patriot League schools where there weren’t really academic or athletic scholarships,” Montanaro said. “I was trying to find the right fit that I thought made sense for me. When I visited Daemen, I visited Canisius on the same trip. Once I stepped onto the Daemen campus, I fell in love with it. I thought the coach was awesome. I got to meet some of the players, I got a tour, and I met some teachers on the visit. It was just the way everyone was so friendly, outgoing, upfront and honest with what they were looking for and how I’d fit into the program. I knew right when I left the campus that that’s where I wanted to go.”
Montanaro was a 6-foot-5, jack-of-all-trades player for Daemen. He played every position for the Wildcats, receiving All-America and conference player of the year honors near the end of his career.
Daemen reached the NAIA Division II Tournament two years in a row, including an appearance in the Elite Eight.
“(College basketball) was an amazing experience,” Montanaro said. “I lived and breathed basketball. I was in the gym all the time, working out, playing, helping, and breaking down game film with the coach. I loved being on the road and pushing the team. I had a great group of kids that I played with, and we pushed each other all the time.”
Montanaro had a chance to play basketball overseas, but the opportunity to coach was calling. That’s when he decided to stay with Daemen for the long haul and also graduated from the college in 2006.
“I had a few offers to coach college,” Montanaro said. “It seemed like most of the coaches in our conference that reached out to me at one point or another said, ‘If you want to coach, we’ll be happy to take you on. We’d love it.’
“Then I had my coach at Daemen say, ‘I think I’m planning on retiring in the next couple of years. I’d love for you to come on, be the assistant coach, and take over the program.’ That was kind of the path that I went toward. I got my master’s degree while I was coaching.”
Soon after coaching at Daemen, Montanaro realized he wanted to start a family with his high school sweetheart, Ashley.
“While I loved coaching, it was hard to justify being on the road all the time,” Montanaro said. “Coaching and not being able to be part of my kids’ lives was not the way I wanted it to be.”
Montanaro took a break from coaching, then got back into it when his kids started playing basketball.
He and his family moved to Syracuse in 2016. From there, Montanaro and his family became involved with the Baldwinsville Sting, a youth basketball program within the area.
“I got involved with it from there and then, with my knowledge and background and having both boys and girls in the program, it was a natural fit,” Montanaro said.
Montanaro coached some of the Baldwinsville Sting squads that his kids were on. In 2021, he took over as president of the entire program for a few years.
Right before the 2024-25 season, an opportunity arose to be an assistant under head coach Tom Brown for the Bees’ varsity squad.
Montanaro credits his time with the Baldwinsville Sting for his transition to coaching high school basketball.
In the midst of working on his physical education certification, Montanaro was already a substitute teacher within the Baldwinsville Central School District.
Coaching at the same time made sense for Montanaro.
“(The Baldwinsville Sting) kind of led its way into me getting into the school and the varsity program and a unique position to help build a basketball culture,” Montanaro said. “At B’ville, that hasn’t always been here and that’s our goal over the next few years here is to keep building that connection from the ground up with a youth level up through the high school program.”
When Montanaro stepped in as the next head coach at Baldwinsville for the 2025-26 season, the pipeline between the Sting and the high school program solidified even more than before.
“I think that pipeline is huge for helping with that culture and building it,” Montanaro said. “There are a lot of great parents who volunteer and help with coaching with the Sting program. Being able to be connected to them and all the players, knowing me from seeing me at Sting (games and practices) and seeing me at tryouts and summer camps, and now seeing me there and then coming to the games and seeing me coaching, they can see the same things I’m teaching (on varsity). There might be some tweaks and a little bit more advanced, but teaching them that this is what you’re building toward. It’s been extremely helpful teaching my own kids and their teams, and they see it at both levels and see that coaching style. I’m trying to bridge it all with that. I think it’s great for the program and something that’s only going to be beneficial in the long run.”
Montanaro’s own children are following in his footsteps. His oldest daughter, Lilly, is on the Bees’ JV girls basketball team. Maximus is one of Baldwinsville’s modified basketball squads, and some of his kids currently play for the Sting.
Montanaro’s varsity squad played in the Rome Free Academy Invitational over the weekend. As the Bees trek through the season and beyond, Montanaro will be there to guide them.
“There are a few things we talk about regularly in practice,” he said. “One is that it is all right to make mistakes. It’s just a matter of how you learn from those mistakes and how you keep building on them every day. It’s about a growth mindset and always getting better each day. As long as you bring a full effort every day, we’re going to get better. You’ve got to push yourself and the person next to you.
“We’ve been using the term ‘hive mentality,’ and as the Bees, we’re all in this together. We’re one team. We’re one hive and one drive. We have one singular goal, so it’s about us building together. It’s not about one person always standing out and only doing things. It’s about what can I do to make the player next to them better, which is going to ultimately make me better and the team better. Having that consistency is what you need to really improve and build over the course of the season or over the course of a few years in your career.”
Dos Pueblos Little League is recruiting middle school and high school baseball players to umpire Little League games this season.
Prior umpiring experience is preferred, but not required. Dos Pueblos Little League has an Umpire Board member who will help with training, but baseball knowledge is a must.
Gear also provided and Little League umpires can earn $40 per game or receive volunteer service hours.
Umpiring Little League is “a great way to build leadership skills and stay involved in the game,” organizers said.
It’s time to vote for the Detroit Free Press Buffalo Wild Wings Boys Prep Athlete of the Week.
This week’s poll features three basketball players who had standout performances during the week of Dec. 14-20.
Voting will close at noon on Friday, Dec. 26.
Here are the nominees (listed in alphabetical order by last name):
Malachi Brand, Warren Woods-Tower
Warren Woods-Tower improved to 4-1 after defeating both Fraser and Warren Mott last week. Brand, the team’s sophomore guard, had 36 points, 11 assists, nine rebounds and five steals for the Titans.
Gregory Haskins, Port Huron
Haskins’ 30-point performance led Port Huron to its first win of the season on Tuesday, defeating Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse, 77-68. The senior guard followed his performance with 20 points on Friday in a 58-37 loss to Port Huron Northern.
Kayden Harmon, New Haven
Harmon started his week with a double-double during a 82-26 victory over Clinton Township Clintondale on Tuesday. The 6-foot-7 sophomore guard had 21 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and three assists in the matchup. New Haven extended its winning streak with a 75-42 victory over Sterling Heights on Friday, in which he finished with 15 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
Come back to freep.com/sports/high-schools/ every Tuesday morning to vote for Athlete of the Week.
Miss the deadline to nominate an athlete?
We take nominations through 10 a.m. Monday for the previous week’s games. Nominate for the week of Dec. 21-27 at freep.com/athlete. Note: Don’t use the nomination link to vote. You can vote in the poll above.
TO YOUR INBOX: Sign up for our weekly Michigan Preps newsletter to get high school sports and news sent directly to you!
Eric Guzmán covers youth sports culture at the Free Press as a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work.
Contact Eric Guzmán: eguzman@freepress.com; 313-222-1850. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @EricGuzman90.
Prattville Fire Department’s (PFD’s) Battalion Chief Travis Rodie celebrated his retirement, Dec. 22, 2025, at Stanley Gann Training Center, marking the end of a 26-year career of dedicated service.
Mayor Bill Gillespie presented Rodie with a token, recognizing his selfless leadership and long-standing commitment to the citizens of Prattville.
“Chief Rodie has done so much for our community,” said Gillespie. “One person can’t do everything, but one person can make a difference, and he’s done it from the top down.”
Assistant Chief Ricky Roberts also highlighted Rodie’s commitment to the community, which he said has extended far beyond PFD, including his service in the U.S. Air Force and his time coaching local youth sports.
“You’ll never meet a more dedicated employee than Travis,” said Roberts. “When given a task, whether he liked it or not, he would always get it done. His work ethic is unmatched. He’s championed physical fitness, invested deeply in public education, and consistently advocated for every single member of this department for 26 years.”
In the days leading up to his retirement, Rodie made a point to visit each fire station, offering encouragement and sharing lessons he hoped would stay with his colleagues long after his departure.
“There are three things I try to teach my grandchildren that I will leave you with today,” said Rodie. “All you need to be successful in this world is to be smart, be kind, and be strong.”
Rodie concluded the ceremony by calling his final class of recruits forward for one last tradition: 20 team pushups. As they counted each repetition, the emotion in the room was unmistakable — a fitting tribute to a leader whose impact will be measured not just in years served, but in the people he shaped and the legacy he leaves behind.
Gregory Dean Craig, 62, of Otwell, passed away December 19, 2025, in Huntingburg.
He was born June 11, 1963, to Jerry and Patty (Hayes) Craig in Washington, Ind.
Greg had worked as a land surveyor for Nerco and Phoenix Natural Resources. He spent 18 years with the Pike County Sheriff’s Department and currently works in the parts department at Farbest Foods.
Greg was kind, hardworking, and loved his family fiercely. He told his wife he loved her every single day. He prayed for each member of his family every day while driving to work. He was often quiet but felt things deeply. He especially loved being “Pap” to his grandson, Barin. He delighted in doing things with him and loved it while on vacation when Barin, who loved the beach, wanted to leave it to have a campfire with Pap.
Greg was happiest while fishing or hunting and loved being at “The Last Resort”. Going on a little fishing trip with his dad or his son, Clint, was a special treat. He coached both his children in youth sports and supported everything they did. They knew he always had their back. He also took great pride in keeping his lawn in pristine condition.
Greg was a collector at heart, whether it was fishing lures, plastic worms, or Batman figures for Clint. When Clint was born, he bought a rattletrap lure to start his collection. He owned possibly the most extensive beer memorabilia collection around and was so proud of his “museum”.
Greg is survived by his wife of 38 years, Jody (Booth) Craig; daughter, Allyson Michelle (Jim) Bowers, or “Ally Shell” as Greg called her; son, Clint Matthew (Kelsey Barrett) Craig, or “Slappy” as Greg called him; grandchildren, Barin, Klaire, and Kameryn Bowers; mother, Patty Craig; brother, Brent (Jamie Williams) Craig; uncles, Gordon Craig and Roger Chamness; an aunt, Patsy Gilham; and several cousins.
He is preceded in death by his father, Jerry Craig; grandparents, Marion and Anita Jean Hayes and Luther and Norma Craig; aunt, Debbie Chamness; and his mother in law, Sharon Booth.
Services for Greg will take place at 2 p.m. EDT on Friday, December 26, 2025, at Harris Funeral Home in Petersburg, with visitation time from 10 a.m. EDT until service time.
On a cool and sunny Friday afternoon, I finally did what I’d been meaning to do for several weeks.
I drove over to Edgewood Park to have a look at the former Dixie Youth Baseball fields. After several years of being unused, McComb officials recently removed the fencing around each field along with several buildings on the property.
It’s an inglorious ending to a place that introduced thousands of local children to baseball and softball, and drew hundreds of their family members and friends on summer evenings to watch the games.
But now it’s gone. I parked my car and looked out at the property, trying to recall the location of the various fields.
Everything has been removed. The concession stand, the overhead press boxes behind each home plate, the storage buildings, the fences, the dugouts, the bleachers, the cinder blocks. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like even the sidewalks were gone.
One overhead light lay on its former field, where the minor league used to play. There were three vehicles on the property, with guys completing the removal work, including a truck and a backhoe.
I don’t blame the city for clearing the property. It had been overgrown for several years until the city board approved the cleanup.
Nor do I blame the McComb Exchange Club for merging its youth baseball operations with Summit several years ago and moving to the Windsor Gay Youth Complex, which has more space than Edgewood Park did. Times change, and decisions have to be made.
In fact, Pike County once had three Dixie Youth Baseball locations, in McComb, Magnolia and Summit.
The Dairy Belt leagues in Magnolia were the first to close, pretty much going the way of all the dairy farms that Southwest Mississippi used to have. And then McComb DYB left Edgewood Park, where it had been since it started in 1958, for Summit.
Mary Ann and I were regulars at youth baseball games from 1994 to 2008, if my math is correct. Though it could be aggravating at times for parents trying to make sure their kids got to where they were supposed to be, the upside to Dixie Youth Baseball far outweighed any hassles.
The baseball fields are gone, but the memories remain. Every family has them, and here are some of my favorites:
• Coaching T-ball was comically fun. I remember one year, a player insisted on sitting down in the base path whenever he was in the field. I would have to go lift him up to move him out of the way.
• John’s junior league team Sonic won the championship in 1997. It was a close race with another team.
This team was a great group of kids, and they had good coaches and especially a fun group of parents. And the Sonic on Delaware Avenue, to their credit, donated a bunch of hamburgers for the team party.
• Thomas struggled at the plate in his first few games of minor league, when players graduated to a live pitcher instead of the junior league machine.
I pulled out my VCR tape of “The Empire Strikes Back” — this was the summer of 2000 — and had him watch Yoda’s tutorials of Luke Skywalker. A Jedi must feel the Force; it surrounds us. Believe in what you can do. And the very next game, he got a hit.
• When Audrey was in the softball leagues, one year I had these comical trash-talking contests with friends whose daughters were on another team. Audrey, it turned out, was a decent player. A sign of her future on the high school volleyball team.
When Audrey, our youngest, finished her last year of Dixie Youth, I was glad to be free of spending two nights or four nights a week at the park. I planned to go back once in a while to see what was going on, but I never did.
This would be the right place to thank all the Exchange Club members and other volunteers who do the hard work of running Dixie Youth. They all are champs.
Looking out at the empty space on Friday, it had to look a lot nicer than it did when the property wasn’t being used and the weeds had taken over. So I’m OK with starting from scratch on what is a pretty large piece of Edgewood Park.
A soccer league has asked to use the property, and I hope they, or some kind of youth sports group, gets it. The place has six decades of history, and that ought to continue.
